Soundbites

Sumner's Tales: Sting talks...

"I wanted to bookend the Greatest Hits album with two new songs. It's presumptuous, because you don't know if a song's going to be a hit, but 'When We Dance' seems to be going in the right direction. I'd never tried to write a hit before, a song designed to be played on the radio. This is basically a generic ballad, but it took me a year to write. I had no main idea for the song, so I came up with this love triangle. I love you and you love him. It has a flattened fifth at the end of the first line. It's an unusual, uncomfortable sound, which suits the situation in the lyrics."Independent On Sunday, 11/94

Backgrounder

'When We Dance' was one of two new tracks (along with 'This Cowboy Song') that was written to bookend 1994's 'Fields Of Gold - The Very Best of Sting' hits collection. A classic Sting ballad with a twist, the song was released as a single in October 1994 where it performed extremely well spending 7 weeks on the chart and peaking at the #9 spot. It was less popular in the US where its one week chart residency was at the #38 position. An 'Edit' version and a 'Classic Radio Mix' are available in addition to the Album version. The UK singles releases featured a variety of different Soulpower remixes of 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free' although one of the CD singles included a new Hugh Padgham remix of the 1985 track, 'Fortress Around Your Heart'.